Latch for interchangeable panels



sept. 5, 1933. H G. KLOPP 1,925,327

LATCH FOR INTERCHANGEABLE PANELS Filed March 7,. 1932 Patented Sept. 5, 1933 ,unirse g STATES PATENT OFFICE Henry G. Ilopp, Spokane, Wash.y K' Application March 7, 1932. Serial No. 597,342',y

1 Claim.

lVIy present invention relates to improvements in combination doors or doors which are convertible for summer and winter use, and involve the alternate use of a removable wire screen panel 5 and a removable glass panel or insert with the frame of the door. The invention isy directed specifically to the means for fastening the removable panel in the door frame, whereby one panel may, with facility and without use for the usual skilled lo labor, be removed and replaced by another panel, and whereby the inserted panel is rigidly locked in place in the frame of the door to prevent rattling as well as to prevent displacement of parts. As is well known, combination doors of this type are manufactured at the factory, and the three parts of the unit, i. e. the door frame, a glass panel, and a wire screen panel for interchangeable use, are shipped, or stored, as the case may be. In both shipping and storing of the parts, for economy in space, it is necessary that no protruding parts, as hardware fixtures, be mounted on these parts of the door, and therefore the hinges, knobs, and other hardware xtures are afxed onthe job. The fastening devices of my invention, however, are installed in the door frame at the factory, and inasmuch as they are flush with the finished face of the door, they do not interfere with-the packing, storing, or shipping of the materials. The fastening devices are thus fashioned as part of the equipment of the combination door, and lso far as these devices vare concerned, the door is finished at the factory, and thereafter only unskilled labor is required for interchanging the glass panel and the wire screen panel, when desired or required.

The fastening devices are employed in suitable numbers foreach door and are amxed in the door frame as a. permanent part of the door frame, and l these devices, which are simple in construction and inexpensive in manufacture, may, with facility, be manipulated for locking the panel in place and for releasing the panel in order thatfit may be removed when desired or necessary.

The invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of parts as will hereinafter be more fully set forth and claimed. In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated one complete example of the physical embodiment of my invention wherein the parts are combined and arranged according to the best mode I have thus far devised for the practical application of the principles of my invention. v

Figure 1 is a view in elevation at the inner side of a door equipped with the fastening devices of my invention, and showing one-half of a wire number of mortises 9 with undercut walls 10 at screen panel and one-half of a glass panel in the door frame.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the lever plate of oneof the locks or fastening devices; Figure 3 is a perspective View of the slide bolt or latch; and Figure 4 is a perspective view of the housing.

Figure 5 is a perspective viewl showing an undercut mortise in the door frame' adapted to receive one of the fastening devices.

Figure Gis a horizontal sectional view through part -of the dool frame, a glass panel, and the locking device, thelever-plate being shown in open or released position.

While I have illustrated the fastening devices in use in a door frame for the removable and interchangeable panels, it will be understood that the use of the devices is not limited to the exemplified structure, as for instance the devices may be used in a porch-frame for securing interchangeable windows and .windowfscreens in the` frame, as well as for other purposes. v

In order that the general arrangement and relation of parts may readily be understood I have shown in Figure 1 a door frame 1 having an open center and provided with the usual hardware finish, as the hinges 2 and knob 3. In this figure of drawing half of a glass panel 4 and lhalf of a Vwire screen panel 5 are shown as occupying the space in the open frame,.and fastened or locked therein. These two panels are of similar dimensions and shape, and are interchangeable for al. ternate use in the open door frame, and as seen in Figure 6 the door frame is provided with an inner groove forming a ledge 6 at the outer side of the frame, while the panel is fashioned with a groove inits outer edges forming a complementary ledge 7. at the inner side of the door. The panel is made to fit neatly in the door frame, and at the outer side of the door a workmanlike appearance V or finish is provided, simulating the usual style of door, while at the inner side of the door, the usual appearance is presented, except that the door frame is provided at the sides, top, and bottom of the panel, or only at the sides of the door fram-e, with a suitable number of fasteners, of

`small size, flush with the face of the door frame,

a weather-tight joint, which is well braced to 10,1

prevent displacement of parts, and the fasteners secure the panel and the door frame rigidly together to prevent rattling of parts.

During the course of manufacture of the door frame, the latter is provided with a predetermined the sides and bottom end of the open pocket, as illustrated in Figure 5, and these pockets extend outwardly from the inner edges ofthe door frame a suitable distance, and are located in the face of the door frame at its inner side. rIhe outer, opposite lateral edges of the panel are provided with complementary sockets 8 that extend inwardly at a slight angle from the outer faces of the ledges or edges 7 of the panel. f

In each of the undercut pockets 9 a fastening device is forced by means of a pressing tool, taps from a hammer, or in other suitable manner, and the device is rigidly held by friction Within the pocket and becomes a permanent iixture Aof the door frame. Three of these fastening devices are shown in Figure 1 at the opposite sides of the panel, but it will be understood that the number may be increased or diminished in adapting the fasteners to variouspurposes.

Each fastener comprises a U-shaped housing 11 of suitable, nonrusting metal, and at the open mouth of the housing a cross bar 12 joins the legs of the U-shaped housing to hold the legs in proper relation and to brace the housing, as well as to provide a stop for the lever-plate 21, as will be described. 'Y

At its two sides and one end, the housing is fashioned with an extension rim or grooved bead 13, and the two straight sides only of these beads are fashioned with inturned flanges 14' that provide a pairv of opposed grooves 15, or guide ways, for the slide bolt or slide latch 18. f

As best seen in Figure 4, the walls of the housing are fashioned with a pair of alined holes 16, 16, anda pin 17, Which is pasesd through these holes, extends across the open space of the housing, and its ends, exterior of the housing, are riveted to form retaining heads to rigidly secure the pin in the housing.

It will be apparent that the housing, with. its accompanying parts, is forced into the pocket 9 of the door frame, the bead 13 of the housing tting neatly in the undercut portion 10 of the pocket. The beads form simple, but effective locking means for the housing to prevent its lateral displacement, and the friction between all exterior faces of the housing and the walls of the pocket is sufficient to hold the'housing against longitudinal displacement.

A slide plate, or bolt 18, of rectangular shape, is slid into the housing, with the opposite longitudinal edges of the slide kplate or bolt tting neatly in the grooves or ways 15 of the housing, and this slide bolt or slide latch is fashioned with an angular, reduced end 19 forming an end lug. An intermediate lug 2O is also struck up from the metal of the plate or slide bolt. Either of these lugs may be used as a ngerhold in slidend of the bolt-locking lever.

ing the bolt back and forth in its grooves, the' lug 20 co-acts with a part of the bolt-locking lever to limit outward movement of the bolt, and the lug 19 limits inward slide of the bolt as well as providing an abutment or stop for the free The lugs are accessible to the thumb or finger when the leverplate 21 is swung open.

At one end, the plate 2l is bent around to form a tubular cam or offset. edge 22, and the low cam-face 23, (as seen in Figures 2 and 6) of this tubular cam-member provides a bearing which surrounds the pivot pin 17, which pin acts as a journal for the bearing as the lever-plate is turned on the pin. The lever-plate conforms in shape to the housing, except that the rounded end of the plate is flattened as at 24 to provide a slight opening for the insertion of the thumbnail, or theedge of a screwdriver, nail, or any pointed object, to pry the lever-plate from its seat in the housing when the slide bolt is to be released.

All of the slidefbolts of the fasteners are of course retracted when the panel is placed in position in the door frame, and the sockets 8 of the panel. are located opposite the slide bolts of the fasteners. To fasten the panel in the door frame the lever-.plate 21 is swung outwardly to approximately perpendicular position with relation to the slide bolt, and the low face 230i the locking cam comes opposite the slide `bolt or plate 18. The slide bolt is now projected, by pressure from the thumb, and oneend of the bolt is slid into the socket 8 of the panel, -until it engages one side of this socket, as in Figure 6. The lever-plate is now swung inwardly toward the housing and kthe cam edge 22 turns into close frictional .con-

sents an unobtrusive appearance and has a tendenoy to 1seep out dust, dirt, and weather. l

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A fastening device adapted to be countersunk in a mortised frame and comprising an 4open front housing having exterior laterally-projecting beads to secure the housing in the frame and said beads forming interior grooves, a bolt slidable in said grooves, a lever having a locking member` and pivoted in the housing, said member being adapted to clamp the bolt in its grooves and said lever being 'adapted to lie flush with the ico frame and close the housing when the' bolt is in projected position.` K x HENRY G. KLOP?. 

